22 Years Later, We Won’t Forget That Huntsville Tornado

It was the afternoon drive on November 15, 1989, as traffic backed up on Airport Road. Unbeknownst to those sitting in their cars while facing east, an F-4 Huntsville tornado was bearing down on them. Residents of South Huntsville along with owners and their employees were facing another business as usual day on a day that just felt eerie.

November was not supposed to be that warm, sticky, breezy. Thousands who left for work that afternoon remember the air just felt funny.

The weather warning industry still had a LONG way to go. Doppler Radars were just being installed around the country. The National Weather Service did not have the warning technology they have today.

And there it was. A “Severe Thunderstorm Warning” that included much of Madison County, in the midst of a Huntsville Tornado Watch. But for all who remember being near Airport Rd. that day, it was a storm that came without warning.

21 souls lost. 500+ injured. Hundreds of thousands of nerves made forever sensitive. And thanks to the hundreds of our friends and families either killed, injured, or rattled by the tornadoes of April 27, the would will never close, as another opens.

Every time North Alabama residents hear the voice on the other end of their WeatherCall regarding a potential Huntsville tornado, pulses race…

…a Tornado Warning for your immediate area. The sirens whine, and that old familiar feeling in the pit of your stomach starts again.

Today we remember, but today we must also act. Since that day, the National Weather Service has not missed a tornado of that magnitude thanks to amazing warning technology. The warnings are better than ever before, though in many cases, more frequent because of that very technology. The weather vendors around the nation are clamoring for the pocket books of any company willing look ahead to the next tornado disaster, frequently over-charging for their services, driving thousands of companies who want protection out of of the marketplace.

If you are looking for the most afforable, highest quality emergency weather notification system in the nation, look no further than WeatherCall Enterprise. An outgrowth of the wildly popular and proven life-saving WeatherCall product offered by 80 TV stations across the nation, WeatherCall Enterprise takes the exactness of NWS storm specific warnings, and creates a 24/7 automated monitoring and notification system that provides safety at a never before seen price-point.

Why? To allow companies who feel overwarned and underserved by traditional warning systems or overcharged by traditional notification companies a choice to keep their employees safer and their business operations more predictably smooth.

While you are here, take time to leave your contact information and take home a year of WeatherCall @Home free. Contact me, former WAAY-31 Chief Meteorologist Brad Huffines, about WeatherCall Enterprise, and what it can do for your business, and how affordable peace of mind and OSHA compliance really is. You can find me at 256-444-1234, or by email at [email protected].

From 4 to 20 person shelter capacities, you will be surprised how affordable they really are, especially for your business (community safe rooms for 50 or even 100 people also available there, as well as above ground safe rooms).

Thanks to the NWS technology, WeatherCall, and modern communications devices, larger tornadoes will seldom surprise again. So the next time a Tennessee Valley or Huntsville tornado threatens, and they will… you will be prepared, and with a storm shelter, you will have a place to go.